The families of two Hungarian tourists killed in a duck boat accident on the Delaware River last month have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Philadelphia.

Sixteen-year-old Dora Schwendtner and 20-year-old Szabolcs Prem were killed July 7 when a barge being pushed by a tug slammed into the stalled duck boat. The boat capsized and sank.

Lawyers for the victims' families say the suit was filed Tuesday, naming tour boat operator Ride the Ducks of Norcross, Ga., and others.

The suit seeks punitive damages and claims the deaths were senseless and preventable.

Ride The Ducks spokesman Bob Salmon says the company is always focused on safety.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by descendants of the Apache warrior Geronimo, who claimed some of his remains were stolen in 1918 by a student society at Yale University.

The lawsuit was filed last year in Washington by 20 descendants who want to rebury Geronimo near his New Mexico birthplace.

It claimed Skull and Bones members took some remains from a burial plot at Fort Sill, Okla., where Geronimo died in 1909.

Judge Richard Roberts last month granted a Justice Department motion to dismiss, saying the plaintiffs didn't establish the government had waived its right not to be sued without its consent.

He also dismissed the lawsuit against Yale and the society, saying the plaintiffs cited a law that applies only to Native American cultural items excavated or discovered after 1990.

Skull and Bones is not officially affiliated with Yale.

On Monday afternoon of the meeting of the House of Delegates during the American Bar Association, the House of Delegates saw the passing of the gavel from President Carolyn B. Lamm to incoming President Stephen N. Zack.

During her introduction of Zack, Lamm noted, “I know you’ll be in fabulous hands.” She outlined Zack’s rise in the leadership of both The Florida Bar and the ABA.  He is an “incomparable advocate and strategist,” Lamm continued.

Zack noted that, in 1961 as a 14-year old, he and his family were detained while fleeing Cuba. Separated from his family in his own cell, Zack explained that, “The last thing I could have imagined then was a day like today.”

The responsibility of our association is to always speak truth to power.  “Today, I would like to talk to you about four responsibilities:  preservation of the justice system, civic education, protecting human rights, and preparing for disaster,” introduced Zack. 

“We are fighting for rule of law around the world, but we are in danger of losing it here” advised Zack.  The financial crisis in America has been devastating to our judicial system, with 80 percent of this nation’s poor people not being able to afford a lawyer, he said.  

But beyond that, Zack continued, “We are talking about closing the doors to our courtrooms for all Americans.”  Access to justice begins with access to our courts.   Rather than the noted Shakespearean tongue-in-cheek quote about killing lawyers, Zack said that the quote should have encouraged the killing of the justice system. For without a justice system, a society doesn’t need lawyers and anarchy would certainly ensue, he said.

The Task Force on the Preservation of the Justice System will be chaired by luminaries David Boies and Ted Olson.

“Every day, our nation becomes more divided with respect to civil rights,” noted Zack in introducing his Committee on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities.  Zack reminded delegates, “We are a nation of immigrants.  Our basic freedoms are based on the principle that the minority is protected from the tyranny of the majority.” 

Zack also encouraged the members of the House of Delegates, and indeed all lawyers, to be prepared for future disasters, including the possibility of a man-made disaster.  Zack posed:  What will be our response if that happens and the president suspends habeas?   “Now is the time to reflect” and to consider what our response will be. 

“In conclusion, let us remember. History has taught us that we can have liberty and justice, or neither, for there is nothing in between.   In America no man is above the law.  No one is beneath its protection,” summed Zack.

To access video of Zack’s speech:

http://www.abanow.org/2010/08/incoming-aba-president-moves-to-increase-judicial-funding-improve-civics-education-preserve-immigrant-rights-and-advance-disaster-planning-among-goals/

A $10 billion toxic tort class action lawsuit has been filed against BP over alleged emissions from its troubled Texas City oil refinery, alleging that workers and residents in the area were exposed to benzene and other chemicals.  
More than 2,200 workers at the refinery and residents from the surrounding area filed the BP class action lawsuit on August 3 in the Galveston Division of the Southern District of Texas. The complaint alleges that for 40 days earlier this year, the company illegally released the chemical benzene into the atmosphere.

The benzene lawsuit comes just as BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, was finally able to stop the flow of oil from a well a mile under the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, which has caused a massive oil spill that is expected to cost the company tens of billions of dollars in oil spill lawsuits and clean up costs.

Plaintiffs in the BP Texas City refinery class action lawsuit say the company has been releasing benzene into the atmosphere at the plant due to a hydrogen compressor that broke down on April 6. The 2,212 plaintiffs allege that they suffered serious injuries and illnesses from benzene exposure.

Benzene is an industrial chemical that has been linked to the development of cancer, leukemia and other life-threatening health problems. It is a known carcinogen used as an industrial solvent in the production of plastic and synthetic rubber, as well as drugs and dyes.

BP’s Texas City Refinery is the third-largest oil refinery in the United States, and has been the subject of several major safety incidents. As recently as September, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration hit BP with an $87.4 million fine for not complying with a safety agreement made after a March 23, 2005 explosion and fire that killed 15 workers and injured more than 170 others.

In February 2009, BP Products North America agreed to pay $180 million to resolve a separate environmental lawsuit over benzene emissions at the oil refinery. That case involved violations of a 2001 consent decree and Clean Air regulations which were identified during inspections by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) following the March 2005 blast.

Under the terms of that settlement, BP agreed to spend $161 million to address their Clean Air Act violations by setting up better pollution controls, enhanced maintenance and monitoring devices and improving their internal management practices. Another $6 million was designated to fund a project to reduce air pollution in Texas City and $12 million was paid as a penalty.

BP PLC said Monday that it has made an initial deposit of $3 billion into a $20 billion spill-recovery fund.

BP said it was making the deposit earlier than the originally scheduled Sept. 30 deadline to show its commitment to restoring the livelihoods of people affected by the worst offshore oil spill in history. The company said it would make an additional $2 billion deposit in the fourth quarter.

In June, BP agreed to set up the fund following a meeting between company Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg and then-Chief Executive Tony Hayward with U.S. President Barack Obama and senior administration officials.

BP said the account would be administered by a newly established trust overseen by former U.S. District Judge John Martin and by Kent Syverud, dean of the Washington University School of Law. Citigroup Inc. will serve as corporate trustee.

"We are pleased that BP made an initial contribution and has taken an important step toward honoring its commitment to the President and the residents and business owners in the Gulf region," Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli said in a statement. "We have made clear that the company still needs to ensure that the necessary funds will be available if something happens to the subsidiary that established the trust and we look forward to completion of an appropriate security arrangement in the near future."

Lawyers who represent children in dependency proceedings say it’s time for these children – regardless of which state they live – to have a right to legal counsel.

Meeting yesterday at the 2010 American Bar Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco, a panel of children’s rights advocates discussed eliminating the barriers that prevent lawyers from representing these children in life-impacting legal proceedings.  

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services there are more than half a million children in foster care and under the jurisdiction of family courts.  These are children who have been, for example, removed from their homes, placed in temporary shelters and possibly separated from siblings.

When it comes down to who is looking out for the rights and interests of the children in the courtroom – a lawyer, a guardian ad litem or an attorney ad litem -- there is no clear-cut, uniform answer.

“Every state has a different model,” says Hilarie Bass, a Miami commercial litigator who does pro bono work representing foster kids.

She points out the obvious — that there are too many children who need help, without enough money in the system to serve them.  Despite those hurdles, Bass, who is also incoming chair of the American Bar Association Section of Litigation, says she expects the section to make a recommendation on the right to counsel for children that should come up for debate before the ABA’s policymaking body in 2011.

“It would be a recommendation to provide for counsel and representation of children in delinquency and dependency proceedings,” says Bass. 

ABA President Carolyn Lamm says the ABA is an association interested in promoting the best interest of children and finding solutions “before we have a crisis situation.”

Lamm adds, “These citizens are the most vulnerable of course, in terms of no one to defend their legal rights.  The ABA does so much work in the public interest.  This is a segment of the public that needs us and we are strong and forceful advocates for children and the rights of children to be represented."  

So far, the U.S. Supreme Court has not spoken on the issue of whether children have a constitutional right to counsel in dependency proceedings.

Georgia attorney Trenny Stovall directs the DeKalb County Child Advocacy Center and represents children in dependency proceedings every day.  She says children who don’t have their own lawyer do not have a voice.

“When children don’t have a lawyer, their ability to be considered a living being with rights is vastly diminished.  Without representation, they become a widget in the eyes of the court,” says Stovall.

Children like 16-year-old Trevor Wade — who has been through the dependency court system — will tell you that having a lawyer makes a difference.  He says his lawyer fought against a system that would have placed him back with an abusive father.  These days he’s an intern in a public defender’s office, helping kids who are going through the court system.

Wade hopes to go to law school and is zealous in his advocacy on this issue.

He says that when states and courts make decisions not to provide lawyers for children, the question that needs to be asked is, “What is the price of a child’s success?”

Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine is defending first lady Michelle Obama's vacation trip to Spain, saying critics of her travels are trying to politicize the issue.

Kaine tells NBC's "Today" show he thinks "it's wrong" to talk critically about her trips. Critics contend they send a poor message at a time when many Americans are out of work.

Kaine said, "She's a mom." He said this was an opportunity for her to take nine-year-old daughter Sasha to a part of the world she hadn't seen before.

Kaine said President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are "focused on being good parents." Mrs. Obama returned with Sasha to the White House late Sunday. Her trip occurred as Obama was celebrating his 49th birthday and their other daughter, 12-year-old Malia, was away at summer camp.